Free Swim Lessons Offered To Kids Of NYCHA Tenants

UPPER EAST SIDE, NEW YORK — Free swimming lessons are being offered to kids of NYCHA tenants.

The non-profit group Friends of +POOL is teaming with NYCHA to provide the sessions, which started on Wednesday.

It aims to provide 60 students between the ages of 8 and 13 with free lessons at the Convent of the Sacred Heart Athletic Center.

The first session was on July 5, with a second planned for July 17. Each session will consist of seven lessons. The classes are part of the non-profit's Summer Bluefish Swim Program, which aims to get kids confident in the water.

The non-profit also hopes to offer lifeguard training to their advanced students in the future and hire them to work at +POOL, once it is completed.

“These sort of partnerships with innovative organizations like +POOL are helping NYCHA move closer to our goal of creating the safe, clean and connected communities every family deserves,” said NYCHA Executive Vice President of Community Engagement and Partnerships Sideya Sherman.

+POOL is a group that's working to build a floating pool in the East River by cleaning the water using filters on its walls and restoring 600,000 gallons of river water everyday.

Images courtesy of Friends of +POOL